Former St. Augustine football player killed in Mid-City shooting, family says

A family member has identified 21-year-old Zachary Nelson as one of two people killed during a
shooting in Mid-City
early Saturday morning (June 3) that left three others wounded. Nelson was a place kicker for the St. Augustine High School football team and graduated in 2014, according to his former coach.

A photo of Zachary Nelson provided by his former Football coach, Cyril Crutchfield.

Nelson's mother, Zena Nelson, confirmed to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune that her son was one of the men killed Saturday morning. New Orleans police said gunshots erupted shortly after 12:30 a.m.
outside an event center
in the
3700 block of Tulane Avenue
. Authorities have not yet confirmed the identities of the two men who were killed.

Aside from football, Nelson donated his time to the New Orleans community. In 2014, he received a community service award from Entergy and attested to devoting more than 400 volunteer hours to several local organizations. In an article about the award, he noted his intention to pursue a major in chemical engineering at Louisiana State University.

"Through volunteering, I have gained patience and wisdom from people who have lived and served the community before me,"
Nelson wrote
. "I have learned how important it is to say 'yes ma'am' and 'yes sir.' When people say that I am a well-mannered young man, it makes me smile."

As for athletics, Cyril Crutchfield, the former head football coach at St. Augustine, praised Nelson's hustle, selflessness and spirit as a player who would do "anything we needed." Nelson even pushed through pain to help out the team, Crutchfield recalled, after vigorously volunteering to take a stab at punt-return coverage and tearing his ACL during his final senior season.

"I was trying to find another kicker, but he just went out there and kicked," Crutchfield said over the phone Saturday evening. "That's the type of person he was. He was just a great young man. A great student academically, and a high-character person."

Crutchfield added that Nelson stood out even in the "special class" of 2014 that included Leonard Fournette, LSU's most recent star running back. Fournette's brother, Lanard Fournette, also a former teammate of Nelson's, took to Twitter to express his grief.

According to 1st District Commander Hans Ganthier of the
New Orleans Police Department
, around 200 people were at the Mid-City Event Center, at 3717 Tulane Ave., when the shooting started. The immediate area around the intersection of Tulane and Ulloa in Mid-City has seen a spate of violence in recent months, including a
shooting last October
that left three people dead and two others wounded.

"This is an area of concentration for us, and will continue to be," Ganthier said during a news conference Saturday morning.

Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to contact NOPD Homicide Detective Jamaane Roy at 504-658-5300. You may also call Crimestoppers anonymously at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP.